Automatically configuring a web-enabled portable device to access the internet

ABSTRACT

Automatically configuring a portable electronic device for accessing a site on a public network is disclosed. The method and system include establishing a connection to at least one server for establishing and maintaining website accounts, and sending information uniquely identifying the electronic device to the at least one server. The at least one server sends user account information to the device, including an account ID and password, created based on the electronic device information. The user account information is stored on the device for use the next time the device accesses the website, whereby the user does not have to enter account information in order to establish the ISP connection or the website account before accessing the public network or, if the user account is not completely set up, to establish the user account a next time the device connects to the at least one server.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application is a continuation of U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 13/183,566, filed Jul. 15, 2011, now issued as U.S. Pat. No.8,572,663, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.12/212,113, filed Sep. 17, 2008, now issued as U.S. Pat. No. 8,009,194,which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/658,999,filed Sep. 9, 2003, now issued as U.S. Pat. No. 7,443,419, which is acontinuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/625,824, filed Jul.26, 2000, now issued as U.S. Pat. No. 6,636,259, all of which are herebyincorporated by reference in their entireties. The present invention isrelated to U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/625,398, now issued asU.S. Pat. No. 8,224,776, entitled “Method and System For HostingEntity-Specific Photo-Sharing Websites For Entity-Specific DigitalCameras,” and to U.S. Pat. No. 7,117,519, entitled “Method And SystemFor Selecting Actions To Be Taken By A Server When Uploading Images,”which are assigned to the assignee of the present application.

BACKGROUND

As the popularity of digital cameras grows, the desire of digital camerausers to share their images with others will also continue to grow. Newdigital camera owners typically try to share their images based on theparadigm of film cameras, in which images are printed on paper and thenplaced into a photo album. The most straightforward approach to do thiswith a digital camera is to connect the digital camera directly to aprinter to create the prints, and then manually insert the images into aphoto album. Users often find this process somewhat complicatedrestrictive because standard printers can only print images in limitedsizes and requires particular types of paper. And even after the photoalbum has been assembled, the printed images are not easily shared withmany people.

The best approaches to photo-sharing take advantage of the Internet. Onesuch approach is for users to store the digital images on a personalcomputer (PC) and then send the images to others using email. SeveralInternet companies now offer an even more convenient approach byproviding photo-sharing websites that allow users to store their imagesfor free and to arrange the images into web-based photo albums. Onceposted on a photo-sharing website, others may view the images over theInternet.

While convenient for storing digital images, getting the images to thephoto-sharing websites can be challenging for users. Most commonly,users must upload their images from the digital camera to a PC using acable or Infrared Data Association (IrDA), or by inserting the camera'sflash card into the PC. From the PC, the user logs onto the Internet anduploads the images to a photo-sharing website. After uploading theimages, the user works on the website to arrange the images into webalbums and to add any textual information.

Although today's approach for storing images from a digital camera ontoa web photo-sharing website and for creating web photo albums worksreasonably well, two problems remain that hinder the mainstream adoptionof web-based photo-sharing. One problem is that this approach requiresthe use of a PC, notebook computer, or personal data assistant (PDA).While many digital camera users today have PC's, most of those users areearly adopters of technology. There are many other consumers who wouldpurchase a digital camera, but are reluctant to do so because they donot yet own a PC or are intimidated by them.

In an effort to address this problem, the assignee of the presentapplication developed an approach to uploading images to the web thatdoesn't require the use of a PC. In this approach, an email softwareapplication is loaded into a digital camera capable of running softwarethat allows the user to e-mail the images directly from the camera. Theuser simply connects his or her digital camera to a cellphone or modem,runs the e-mail application, and selects the desired images and theemail recipients. The selected images are then sent to the recipients ase-mail attachments.

Although emailing photos directly from the camera allows users who donot own a PC to share images over the Internet, these users must stillestablish accounts with both an Internet service provider (ISP) and thephoto-sharing website before being able to post their images. Theseaccounts must also be set-up by PC users as well. For techno savvy userswho use a PC to upload the images to the photo-sharing website,establishing the accounts may not be a bother, but even these users maynot always have their PCs handy, such as when on vacation, for instance.And for non-PC users, establishing the accounts by entering accountinformation on the digital camera itself may prove to be a cumbersome,if not a daunting, task.

Accordingly, what is needed is an improved method for uploading imagesfrom a digital camera to a photo-sharing website on the Internet. Inorder for online photo-sharing to become more mainstream, an approachthat doesn't require a PC or PC expertise and that reduces complexityfor the user is required. The present invention addresses such a need.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides a method and system for automaticallyconfiguring a hand-held portable electronic device for accessing a siteon a public network is disclosed. The method and system includeestablishing a connection to at least one website server, which isresponsible for establishing and maintaining website accounts, andsending information uniquely identifying the electronic device to the atleast one website server. The electronic device receives user accountinformation from the at least one server, including an account ID andpassword, created based on the electronic device information. The useraccount information is then stored on electronic device for use the nexttime the electronic device accesses the website, whereby the user doesnot have to enter account information in order to establish the ISPconnection or the website account before accessing the public network,or if the user account is not completely set up, to establish the useraccount a next time the portable device connects to the at least oneserver.

According to the method and system disclosed herein, a user does nothave to enter account information in order to establish the ISPconnection or the website account before accessing the public networkwith the electronic device.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an online photo-sharing system inaccordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flow chart illustrating a business method for hostingentity-specific photo-sharing websites for entity-specific image capturedevices in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a preferred embodiment of the connectivityand application software of the camera.

FIGS. 4A and 4B illustrate a flow chart of a process for automaticallyconfiguring a web-enabled digital camera to access the Internet in apreferred embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating an example action list 48displayed on the LCD screen of the camera.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The present invention relates to an automatic system for uploadingimages from a digital camera to entity-specific photo-sharing websitesand for automatically establishing accounts. The following descriptionis presented to enable one of ordinary skill in the art to make and usethe invention and is provided in the context of a patent application andits requirements. Various modifications to the preferred embodiment willbe readily apparent to those skilled in the art and the genericprinciples herein may be applied to other embodiments. Thus, the presentinvention is not intended to be limited to the embodiment shown but isto be accorded the widest scope consistent with the principles andfeatures described herein.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an online photo-sharing system 10in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention. Thesystem includes a plurality of camera controlling entities 12 thatproduce, own, or otherwise control a set of digital cameras 14, and anonline photo-sharing service 16. The online photo-sharing service 16includes a gateway server 18 and an entity/account database 20. Thevarious camera controlling entities 12 contract with the photo-sharingservice 16 to transparently host customized photo-sharing websites 22for each entity, which are referred to herein as entity-specificphoto-sharing websites 22. The entity-specific photo-sharing websites 22are each accessible to the user through the entity's existing Internetsite (not shown), and thus appear to users as though the entity-specificphoto-sharing websites 22 are hosted by the corresponding entity.According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, thecameras 14 for a particular entity are customized for that entity tocreate entity-specific cameras 14, such that when the cameras 14 connectto the Internet, the cameras 14 automatically upload their images to thephoto-sharing website of the corresponding entity. In a further aspectof the present invention, the photo-sharing service 16 automaticallystores the images in a web album, which is viewable over the Internet bya user's web browser 24.

As used herein, a camera controlling entity 12 is any entity that makes,owns, sells, or controls digital cameras 14, and therefore includes,camera manufactures, companies, retailers, and end-users. One or morecombination of these entities 12 may either contract with thephoto-sharing service 16 to provide entity-specific websites 22 fortheir cameras 14, or have entity information transmitted to thephoto-sharing service 16 from the cameras 14. Therefore, a cameracontrolling entity 12 may include a single entity 12 or a hierarchalrelationship of entities 12.

An example of a single entity 12 includes an insurance company thatcontracts with the photo-sharing service 16 to have all digital cameras14 used by their agents to transmit their images to a customizedinsurance photo-sharing website. Examples of a hierarchal relationshipsof entities 12 includes a camera manufacturer, such as Nikon, thatcontracts with the photo-sharing service 16 to have all Nikon digitalcameras 14 transmit their images to the customized Nikon photo-sharingwebsite. Since the images of different users must be distinguished, eachuser of a Nikon camera 14 would also constitute an entity within theNikon website so that the images from different users can bedistinguished. Other examples of hierarchal entity relationships includea retailer and its consumers, a real estate agency and its agents,community groups and its members, and government agencies and itsemployees, for instance.

In a preferred embodiment, the cameras 14 are customized for theirrespective entities 12 by providing the cameras 14 with software fortransmitting entity ID information 28 identifying its controlling entity12 to the photo-sharing service 16. The photo-sharing service 16 inconjunction with the gateway server 18 and the entity/account database20 hosts the entity-specific photo-sharing websites 22. Eachentity-specific website 22 is identified in the database 20 by an entityaccount number 30 and includes the web pages and URLs 32 comprising thewebsite, the images and web albums 34 stored on the website, and theuser account numbers 36 of authorized users. The database 20 alsoincludes user accounts 40, each of which comprises a user account number42, user preferences 44, the user's images 46, and action lists 48,explained further below.

The gateway server 18, which communicates with the cameras 14 duringimage uploading, receives one or more entity IDs 28 from each camera 14and matches the entity ID 28 with an entity account 30 in the database20. The images are then automatically associated with the photo-sharingwebsite 22 of the identified entity 12 and/or the identified user.

After the images are uploaded, a user of the camera 14 may visit theonline photo-sharing website 22 over the Internet to view the images viaa web browser 24. Since the photo-sharing websites 22 are transparentlyhosted by the photo-sharing service 16, each photo-sharing website 22appears as though it is hosted by the entity itself, rather than thethird party service.

In one embodiment, the cameras 14 may connect to the Internet via aservice provider 26, which may include a wireless carrier and/or anInternet service provider (ISP) that is capable of servicing manydevices simultaneously. In a preferred embodiment, each of the cameras14 is provided with wireless connectivity for connecting to theInternet, and is therefore so called “web-enabled” devices, although awired connection method may also be used.

The cameras 14 may be provided with wireless connectivity using anyoneof a variety of methods. For example, a cellphone may be used to providethe digital camera 14 with wireless capability, where the camera 14 isconnected to the cellphone via a cable or some short-range wirelesscommunication, such as Bluetooth. Alternatively, the camera 14 could beprovided with built-in cellphone-like wireless communication. In analternative embodiment, the digital camera 14 is not wireless, butinstead uses a modem for Internet connectivity. The modem could beexternal or internal. If external, the camera 14 could be coupled tomodem via any of several communications means (e.g., USB, IEEE1394,infrared link, etc.). An internal modem could be implemented directlywithin the electronics of camera 14 (e.g., via a modem ASIC), oralternatively, as a software only modem executing on a processor withincamera. As such, it should be appreciated that, at the hardwareconnectivity level, the Internet connection can take several forms.Hence, it should be appreciated that the present invention is notlimited to any particular method of accessing the Internet.

In a preferred embodiment, the entity-specific websites 22 arecustomized to seamlessly integrate into the entity's existing website byfollowing the look and feel of the entity's existing website. Theentity-specific websites 22 are hosted on the photo-sharing service 16,but a link to the entity-specific websites 22 may be provided on thehomepage of the corresponding entity's existing website. Thus, in orderto view a web album on an entity-specific website 22, the user mustvisit the entity's existing website and click the link to theentity-specific website 22, where the user's browser 24 will betransparently directed to the photo-sharing service 16 and be providedwith the web pages 32 of the entity-specific website 22.

As an example of the operation of the photo sharing system 10, considerthe following scenario. Assume that Minolta and Nikon are entities 12that have contracted with the photo-sharing service 16, and that thephoto-sharing service 16 hosts a photo-sharing website 22 for Minoltaand a photo-sharing website 22 for Nikon. The Minolta cameras 14 wouldbe provided the entity ID 28 for Minolta and the Nikon cameras 14 wouldbe provided the entity ID 28 for Nikon. When the Minolta and the Nikoncameras 14 send sets of images to the photo-sharing service 16, thegateway server 18 would distinguish the cameras 14 by the entity IDs 28and would direct the set of images received from Minolta cameras 14 toMinolta's photo-sharing website, and would direct the images from Nikoncameras 14 to Nikon's photo-sharing website. To view the images, theowners of the cameras 14 would use a browser 24 on their PC or PDA tovisit the URL of the Minolta or Nikon photo-sharing websites 22. In onepreferred embodiment, the photo-sharing service 16 sends the URL of theentity-specific website 22 directly to the camera 14 for display toinform the user of the address.

According to the present invention, the photo-sharing service 16provides business-to-business and business-to-consumer business models.The service is business-to-business because the service providescompanies, such as camera manufactures, with a complete end-to-endsolution for their cameras 14. The solution includes customized softwarefor their cameras 14 for sending images over the internet, and aninternet website for storing images from those cameras 14 on a brandedwebsite that appears to be hosted by the company. The service isbusiness-to-consumer because it allows users of digital cameras 14 withan automatic solution for uploading captured images from a digitalcamera 14 to an online photo-sharing website, without a PC.

According to one preferred embodiment of the present invention, thephoto-sharing service 16 provides a method of doing business whereby thephoto-sharing service 16 shares revenue based on the hierarchalrelationship of the entities 12. For example, if the photo sharingservice 16 charges a fee for receiving and/or storing the imagesreceived from the entity-specific cameras 14, then the photo sharingservice 16 may share a portion of the fee with the manufacturer and/orthird party supplier of the camera 14 that uploaded the images, forinstance. Revenue may also be shared with the wireless service providerproviding the connection with the photo sharing service 16.

FIG. 2 is a flow chart illustrating a business method for hostingentity-specific photo-sharing websites for entity-specific image capturedevices, such a digital cameras, in accordance with a preferredembodiment of the present invention. First, the cameras 14 are providedwith connectivity and application software for communicating over theInternet in step 50. In a preferred embodiment, this step is performedduring camera 14 manufacturing to provide off-the-shelf web enabledcameras 14. The cameras 14 are also customized for specific entities 12to create entity-specific cameras 14 by providing each of the cameras 14with at least one entity ID 28 identifying the corresponding controllingentity in step 52.

Referring now to FIG. 3, a diagram showing the preferred embodiment ofthe connectivity and application software of the camera 14 and theentity ID 28 information is shown. Preferably, the camera 14 includes amicroprocessor-based architecture that runs an operating system 70 forcontrolling camera hardware 72 and overall functionality of the camera14 (e.g., taking pictures, storing pictures, and the like). An exampleof such an operating system 70 is the Digita™ Operating Environmentdeveloped by the assignee of the present application. The camera 14 alsoincludes communication manager 74 software, and a TCP-IP protocol stack76, that enables communication via the internet, as is well-known in theart. The entity ID information 28 and captured images may be stored inone or more types of memories 82.

For hierarchal entity relationships, the cameras 14 are provided withhierarchal entity IDs 28; one entity ID 28 identifying the entity, and asecond entity ID 28 identifying the end-user. Whether there are one ormore entity IDs 28, the entity ID 28′ of the camera manufacturer mayalways be provided. Camera 14 customization may occur either duringmanufacture or anytime thereafter. In a preferred embodiment, themanufacturer entity ID 28′ is provided at the time of manufacturing andis stored in an EEPROM 82 b, while the entity IDs 28 for other entities12, such as companies and end-users, are loaded into the camera 14subsequent to manufacturing and are stored in flash memory 82 a or theEEPROM 82 b.

Customization that occurs subsequent to manufacture may be implementedusing several methods. The first method is to manufacture the cameras 14with an application programming interface (not shown) for accepting asubsequently loaded software application that specifies the entity IDs28. The application may come preloaded on a flash card, which is theninserted into the camera 14 by the user and stored in flash memory 82 a.The application may also be wirelessly beamed into the camera. Whenexecuted in the camera, the software application transmits theappropriate entity IDs 28 to the gateway server 18.

The second method is to load a small file in the camera 14 specifyingthe entity IDs 28 from a removable memory or from a PC, and storing thefile in a system folder within the camera's flash memory 82 a. Thecamera 14 then accesses the file when an Internet connection isestablished. In a preferred embodiment, the communication manager 74automatically extracts the manufacturing ID 28′ and the entity ID 28 andtransmits them to the gateway server 18. In this embodiment, the entityID 28 is also stored in the EEPROM 82 b and is factory set to zero(empty). Thus, unless the entity ID 28 is set, the manufacturing ID 28′may default as the highest controlling entity.

If, for example, a third party developer X contracts to provide customcamera software for camera manufacturer Z, then a custom entity ID willbe issued for developer X and developer X will place the custom entityID into the EEPROM 82 b. Developer X is now a controlling entity 12, andmay specify to the photo-sharing service 16 that a developer Xentity-specific photo-sharing site 22 or developer X's own website bethe destination for the uploaded images.

The protocol stack 76, under direction of the communications managerinterfaces with the communications hardware 78 of camera. The protocolstack 76 includes software APIs and protocol libraries that interfacewith the communication manager 74, and communication hardware interfacedrivers that interfaces directly with the various communicationshardware 72 the camera 14 must function with (e.g., a Bluetoothtransceiver, etc.). The communication manager 74 communicates withoperating system 70 and the IP protocol stack 76 to establish anInternet connection and to transmit the entity ID 28 information andimages from the memories 82 a and 82 b to the photo-sharing service 16.

In an alternative embodiment, rather than loading entity IDs 28 into thecamera, a combination of the camera's serial number and the make andmodel number of the camera may be used as the entity ID 28. Entityspecific cameras 14 may then be distinguished by providing a mapping ofthe camera serial numbers and product IDs to specific entities 12 in thedatabase 20.

Although the camera 14 has been described in terms of a software-basedcustomization solution, those with ordinary skill in the art willreadily recognize that the camera 14 may also be provided with ahardware-based solution.

Referring again to FIG. 2, before or after camera customization, theentity-specific websites 22 are created for each entity contracting withthe photo-sharing service 16 in step 54. Customization requires storageof entity information in the entity/account database 20 and creating andstoring web page elements comprising the entity-specific photo-sharingwebsite in the database 20. The entity-specific information stored inthe database 20 may also include service levels, and enabled featuresfor the entity-specific website 22. Features are components or servicesthat may be provided on websites by the photo-sharing service 16, suchas search functions, and online printing, for instance, but may beselectable by each entity for its own website. As an example, company Xmay provide customized cameras 14 for its employees, but may not wish toallow employees to print images from the company X photo website forsecurity reasons. If so desired, company X may have the photo servicedisable this feature from their particular website.

In a preferred embodiment, the entity-specific websites 22 are notcreated from scratch, but are created by modifying a preexistingtemplate. The template may include several different sections, such asA, B, C and D, for instance. Assuming for example that the template usedto create a website for Nikon, and section A is used to specify the nameof the entity then the name Nikon would be inserted into that section.Other entity-specific content would be used to fill out the remainingsections. The Web pages comprising the Nikon specific photo-sharingwebsite would then be provided with URLs unique to that website. Theentity's regular website would be modified to include a link to theentity's photo-sharing website 22. In addition, the entity-specificphoto-sharing website would include a link back to the entity's website.Entities 12 may have entity photo-sharing web sites 22 created for themin one of two ways; automatically by logging into the photo-sharingservice 16 and manually customizing the templates, or by having theentity photo-sharing website created for them.

Referring still to FIG. 2, when a camera 14 establishes an internetconnection with the gateway server 18, the camera 14 transmits itsentity IDs 28 and/or user entity ID 28 when uploading user selectedimages to the gateway server 18 in step 56. In response, the gatewayserver 18 matches the entity ID 28 with an entity account in thedatabase 20 and matches the user entity ID 28 with a user account 40 inthe database 20 in step 58. The images received are then stored in theuser account 40 of the identified entity-specific website 22 in step 60.

Referring again to FIG. 1, each user account 40 in the database 20 mayalso include one or more action lists 48. According to the presentinvention, an action list 48 includes one or more items representingactions that the gateway server 18 should take with respect to uploadedimages, such as where to store and/or send the images from a particularuser or camera, for instance. As explained further below, the actionlist 48 stored on the database 20 under a user's account 40 areautomatically downloaded to the user's camera 14 during a connectionwith the gateway server 18 and stored on the camera 14. When the userinitiates an image upload, the action list 48 is displayed to the userso the user may easily select what actions the gateway server 18 shouldtake with respect to the images by selecting the displayed action listitems.

Examples of action list items include specifying that the uploadedimages should be stored on the entity-specific photo website, sendingthe images to a list of email addresses, or even performing some type ofanalysis or calculation on the image data, for instance.

In a further aspect of the present invention, an action list item is notlimited to instructing the gateway server 18 to perform actions onlywithin the photo-sharing service 16. Rather, an item in the action list48 may also instruct the gateway server 18 to perform actions outside ofthe photo-sharing service 16, such as storing the images in an externaldatabase 49 of the entity 12. For instance, in the example where theentity 12 is a company, some users of the company's cameras 14 couldhave action lists 48 instructing the gateway server 18 to store uploadedimages to the company's database, rather than to the company'sphoto-sharing site 22. Based on the action lists 48 and customization,the gateway server 18 may be programmed to automatically performpredefined tasks, such as creating new web albums, or a new page withinan existing album, parse the images to extract sound files or othermetadata, print images and mail them to designated addresses, and so on.

In a preferred embodiment, the action lists 48 may be created viaseveral methods. In one method, the action list is created by thephoto-sharing service 16 the first time the user's camera establishes aconnection. That is, a default action list 48 is automatically createdbased on the entity ID when a user account 40 is first created. In ahierarchal entity relationship where the entity 12 is a company, adefault action list 48 may be created to implement a workflow specifiedby the entity 12. In a hierarchal relationship where the entity 12 iscamera manufacturer, for instance, a default action list 48 may becreated instructing the gateway sever 18 to store the user's images in asimulated “shoebox” on the entity-specific photo-sharing site 20. Theuser may then go online and create albums from the images in the shoeboxas desired.

Another method is for the user to create the action list 48 online onthe entity-specific photo-sharing site 20. The action list 48 may becreated manually on the website 20 by the user navigating to the site 20using a web browser 24, accessing her account, and manually creating theaction list 48 or editing the action list 48 on the entity-specific site22. The action list 48 may also be created automatically on the website20 in response to user actions performed on the website, such asprinting images, or creating a web album. Alternatively, afterperforming an action, the user may be prompted whether they would likethis action added to his or her action list 48. If so, the user clicks acheck-box and the item is added the action list 48. In a preferredembodiment, any action list 48 created and edited on the photo-sharingsite 20 are downloaded to the camera every time the camera 14 connectsto the photo-sharing service 16 and made available for user selection onthe camera 14 during the next upload.

Yet another method for creating an action list 48 is to allow the userto create the action list on the camera 14. The user may manually createan action list 48 by “typing” in predefined items on the camera. Theuser may also type in an email address as an action list item wherebywhen that item is selected, the uploaded images are stored as a webalbum on the entity-specific photo-sharing website 22 and the server 18sends a notification to the specified recipient containing the URL tothe web album page.

A method and system for hosting web-based photo-sharing websites and forcustomizing digital cameras to upload images to the entity-specificphoto-sharing websites has been disclosed. According to the presentinvention, users of the customized cameras 14 can upload images to theInternet for storage and web photo album creation without the use of aPC.

In one embodiment described above, the present invention assumes that anISP account has been established with the digital camera's serviceprovider, and that users of cameras 14 belonging to a certain entity 12may use the cameras 14 to upload images to the website of the entity 12.However, two problems with account setup remain. One problem is thatjust as with a PC and PDA, the user must first establish an ISP accountbefore the camera 14 can establish Internet communication. The secondaccount problem is that most websites, including the photo sharing sites22, may require each user to establish a unique account before using thesite to distinguish one user from another. Before being able to connectthe web-enabled camera 14 to the Internet, the user must establish thesetwo accounts by either entering account setup information on a PC orentering account setup information on the camera 14. Neither alternativeis a convenient alternative for people who do not have the time norinclination to do so.

In a further aspect of the present invention, the cameras and the photosharing site are provided with software for automatically creatingInternet and photo-sharing website accounts for each camera 14 uponfirst use, without requiring the user to first enter account informationon a PC or on the camera 14.

Referring now to FIGS. 4A and 4B, a flow chart illustrating a processfor automatically configuring a web-enabled digital camera to access theInternet in a preferred embodiment of the present invention. Althoughthe process will be described in terms of automatically establishingInternet accounts for a digital camera without requiring the user toenter information, those with ordinary skill in the art will readilyrecognize that the present invention may be used to automaticallyestablish Internet accounts for any type of portable electronic device.

The process assumes that a user has just acquired a digital camera 14customized as described above, and has just taken the camera 14 out ofits box in step 100. After taking pictures with the camera in step 102,the user may review the images in the camera's liquid crystal display(LCD) screen and optionally select a set of images to upload to thephoto sharing service 16 in step 104. The user then presses a “send”button on the camera in step 106 to upload the images.

In response, the camera displays a confirmation dialog screen on thecamera and prompts the user to record an audio annotation for the imagesor to continue in step 108. The user may then choose to record audio forthe images in step 110. After choosing to continue, or after recordingaudio, the camera displays a “connecting” dialog screen in step 112 toindicate to the user that the camera is establishing an Internetconnection. At the same time, the camera checks for available connectionoptions in step 114, and if more than one is found, the camera promptsthe user to select one of the connection options. For example, thecamera may be within range of a Bluetooth-equipped printer and acellphone, so the user will be prompted to choose which device thecamera should establish communication with.

The camera then checks for the presence of account information on thecamera in step 116, and if there are none, the camera assumes that thisis a first-time connection. According to the present invention, in orderto allow the camera to make a first-time Internet connection, the camerais provided with default Internet service provider (ISP) informationduring manufacturing, including an ISP access number, and user ID andpassword (if required). The camera establishes connection with thedefault ISP in step 118 by dialing the preloaded access number, and bysending the preloaded user ID and password to the ISP. This specialaccount may be configured so that the camera can only connect to thegateway server 18 (no other IP addresses may be allowed).

After connecting with the ISP, the camera connects to the gateway server18 and sends unique camera information and/or user information in step120. In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, a combinationof the camera's serial number and the make and model number of thecamera may be sent as the unique camera information. In anotherpreferred embodiment, the user's e-mail address may be sent as theunique camera or user information.

Continuing with FIG. 4B, the gateway server 18 uses the unique camerainformation to set up a user account 40 in step 122. After creating theuser account 40, the gateway server 18 returns an information packet tothe camera containing new ISP information (if needed), an account ID,and an account password in step 124. The information packet may alsocontain a default action list specifying what actions should be takenwith respect to the images, an advertisement for display on the camera,and the URL of the entity-specific website 22.

It should be noted that if the camera is used in conjunction with aninternet protocol (IP) direct phone or is provided with a phone numberfor connected to a dedicated server where the user is not billedseparately for the ISP connection, then the steps of providing thecamera with default ISP info and returning new ISP info, may be omitted.

The camera receives the information packet in step 126, and writes aconfiguration file to memory 82 a containing the ID, password, anddefault action list in step 128. The camera then displays the actionlist on the camera's LCD screen for selection by the user in step 130.The camera may optionally display the user's account information aswell.

In an alternative preferred embodiment where security is a concern, thecamera 14 first logs off the special ISP and the gateway accounts, andthen reconnects using new ISP and gateway accounts in order to retrievethe action lists 48.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating an example action list 48displayed on the LCD screen of the camera 14. The action list 48 isshown displaying three major options; printing the uploaded images,saving the uploaded images in the user's shoebox, and sending the imagesto Mom. Under the printing option, the user may select from various sizeprints. Rather than nested menu categories as shown under the printingoption, the action list 48 may be displayed with each action listed as aseparate item (e.g., “Send 4.times.8 prints to Mom”, “Send 5.times.7prints to me”).

Referring again to FIG. 4B, after the user selects one or more actionsfrom the action list 48, the camera begins to upload the images alongwith the selected actions in step 132 and displays a progress bar on thescreen in step 134. In one preferred embodiment, the camera may alsodisplay the advertisement sent in the information packet from thegateway server 18. The advertisement may advertise the controllingentity 12, the entity's photo-sharing site 22, or the photo sharingservice 16. After all the images are uploaded and associated with theuser's account 40, the camera breaks the connection with the gatewayserver in step 136. At this point, the camera 14 may also display theURL of the entity-specific website 22 to the user.

The next time the user uploads images, the camera will use any new ISPinformation received to connect to the Internet and will use the accountID and password written to memory 82 a when connecting to the gatewayserver 18. Thus, by using unique camera information, such as the serialnumber, to establish a web site account upon first use, the presentinvention eliminates the need for the user to type in information toestablish a web site accounts.

To further explain the present invention from a user interaction pointof view, consider the following scenario where a user named Jack hasjust purchased a digital camera 14 from a store and unpacks the camerafrom the box. There is a “Quick Start Guide” which guides him in gettingstarted. Jack pops in the batteries, sets the date and time, and takessome pictures of his dog and his new baby. Jack can see the pictureshave come out well on the small LCD, and now wants to try sharing themwith his parents.

The Quick Start Guide says to select the photos to be sent using the“Select” button, and then press the “Send” button. So, Jack navigates toeach of the baby pictures, selects them, and then presses the “Send”button. Instantly, a dialog comes up on the LCD screen: “No ReceivingDevice Found! Please turn on your phone or other connecting device.”Oops! Jack pulls out his cell phone, and turns it on. He presses the“Continue” button. Jack does not see this happen, but the camera now“discovers” the cell phone, and immediately presents another dialog: “4Images Selected. Press Record to add a Sound Note, or Continue to send”.Although Jack finds the proposition of recording sound intriguing, hedecides to skip it and presses the “Continue” button. Immediately, thedialog is replaced with a “Connecting . . . ” dialog.

Shortly, another dialog appears: “Your camera serial number is 38147.Please write this down. You will need it to access your web photoalbums”. Jack writes the number down on the spot provided in the QuickStart Guide, and presses OK.

Another “Connecting . . . ” dialog appears, and is then quickly replacedby another dialog, which says “A free, temporary account has been set upfor you at www.photo-sharing service.com/new_accounts. You will needyour camera serial number to access your photos and complete the setupof your account. Please complete the account setup within 30 days”. Jackwrites down the URL in the space provided in the Quick Start Guide, andpresses the OK button. Jack doesn't know it, but during this dialog, thecamera has begun transmitting his images and is already partiallycomplete.

A new dialog comes up, with a progress bar. Jack is surprised to seethat the transmission is already almost ⅓ done. Below the progress bar,the dialog says “Press “Continue” to use camera during phototransmission, or wait for progress bar to complete”. Jack is interestedin watching how fast his images are transmitted, and decides to watchthe progress bar complete. A “Transmission Successful” dialog appears.Jack presses the OK button. The camera returns to the review mode.

Jack is pretty excited—he just sent four baby pictures to the Internet.Jack then decides to see what happened to his images so he turns on hisPC. After connecting to the Internet, Jack types in the URL from theQuick Start Guide. A Photo-sharing service web page appears, welcomingJack to the photo-sharing service. After looking briefly at the welcomepage, Jack types in his serial number from the Quick Start Guide, andselects his camera's model number from a pop-up menu. Jack clicks on a“Submit” button on the web page.

Jack now sees a page which shows thumbnails of the baby pictures he justsent, the page is entitled “My Shoebox”. The page explains to Jack thathe is looking at his on-line digital photo shoebox. Since the server 18knows this is Jack's first visit, special help messages may appear.Various options are provided via buttons and text links. One thatcatches Jack's eye is CREATE WEB PHOTO ALBUM. Jack clicks this button,and works his way through the process of setting up an on-line photoalbum. This includes selecting photos from the shoebox, as well asselecting layout and style. One of the check-box items Jack is offeredis “Make this album a camera Action List Item”. Jack doesn't know whatthat is, so he clicks the Action List link, which brings up a briefdescription “If you check this box, you will be able to send picturesdirectly from the camera to this photo album!” Jack finds thisinteresting, so he closes the description window, and checks the box.Jack also enters the email address for his parents and his wife'sparents, so they can be notified to come and see his photo album, whichhe has entitled “Our First Baby”.

One of the buttons Jack does not click is the “Complete Account Setup”button. He knows that he has 30 days to do that chore, and figures hewill get back to it later.

Jack's wife arrives home from shopping at this point, and Jack wants toshow her how the new camera works. He starts by showing her the babyalbum on the PC, then decides to take some pictures of them holding thebaby. Jack then selects the images, and presses the “Send” button again.

Since his cell phone is still on, sitting on the table a few feet away,the connection goes smoothly and quickly. A new dialog pops up,surprising Jack. It says “Select the destination for your pictures” andoffers two choices: “My Shoebox” and “Our First Baby”. Jack is amazed,he doesn't realize that the server 18 downloaded his action list to hiscamera during the connection. Jack decides to select the “Our FirstBaby” web album as the destination for the images, and clicks OK. Thepictures are sent as before. After the transmission has completed, Jackgoes to the PC to check on the photo album. When Jack refreshes thealbum page, he now sees the additional pictures he just sent, along withthe pictures he sent before.

Jack spots a “Send Prints” link on the web page, and clicks it. He isled through a selection of print types, mailing addresses, and creditcard info to make it possible to send prints. He is offered the optionof completing the setup of his account. Jack decides to do that now, andproceeds to fill out the requested information, including his creditcard number. Once the account setup is complete, Jack continues theprint order. One of the radio button items is “Make prints a separateAction List Item” or “Make prints part of your Action List”. Jackremembers something about Action Lists from before, but is not sure whatthis means. The description says “Making a separate action list forprints allows you to decide in the camera to send to the photo album andsend prints or to just send to the photo album.” Jack thinks this iscool, and checks the “Make prints a separate Action List” item. The nexttime Jack sends photos from the camera, his action list will be updatedto present three choices: My Shoebox, Our First Baby, and Our First Babyw/Prints.

The underlying technology supporting this scenario are summarized below.Other functions and features are assumed, but not required for thisscenario:

1. Two-way connection between camera and portal

2. Camera metadata included in the request

3. If not using an IP direct connection,

-   -   3.1. Default ISP connection info built into the camera for the        first connection (country specific)    -   3.2. Downloaded assigned ISP information from the portal to the        camera

4. Software capable of recognizing automatically a set of supportedphones and adjusting the protocol to match

5. Action Lists maintained on the server that are automaticallydownloaded to the camera to update the camera selection list each time aconnection is made

6. An On-line shoebox

7. Ability to download files to the camera from the server. The filescould be text, graphics interchange format (GIF), animated GIF, jointphotograph experts group (JPG), or even a script or applet. This featureenables the ability to display advertisements on the camera, remind theuser of remaining time to complete account setup, make special offers,and indicate limits reached.

A method and system for automatically configuring a web-enabled digitalcamera to access the Internet has been disclosed. Although the presentinvention has been described in accordance with the embodiments shown,one of ordinary skill in the art will readily recognize that there couldbe variations to the embodiments and those variations would be withinthe spirit and scope of the present invention. For example, although thephoto-sharing service has been described as including the gateway serverand the database, the database may be located elsewhere. Also, thegateway server may be used to control account information, while one ormore other servers may be used to provide the web pages of theentity-specific websites. Accordingly, many modifications may be made byone of ordinary skill in the art without departing from the spirit andscope of the appended claims.

The invention claimed is:
 1. A method, comprising: wirelessly receiving,by a server, identification information from an imaging device thatuniquely identifies the imaging device; partially setting up, by theserver, a user account on a website using the identification informationreceived from the imaging device; and wirelessly transmitting, by theserver, account information associated with the user account to theimaging device enabling the imaging device to access the website a nexttime the imaging device connects to the server.
 2. The method of claim1, further comprising: transmitting, by the server to the imagingdevice, a uniform resource locator for the website.
 3. The method ofclaim 1, further comprising: storing, by the server on a memory device,data received from the imaging device; associating, by the server, thedata stored on the memory device with the user account.
 4. The method ofclaim 3, further comprising: transmitting, by the server to the imagingdevice, a list of actions that the server can perform on the datareceived from the imaging device.
 5. The method of claim 4, furthercomprising: receiving, by the server, a selection of at least one actionon the list; and performing the at least one action on at least aportion of the data.
 6. The method of claim 4, further comprising:receiving, by the server, a modified action list from the imagingdevice; and updating the action list on the memory device to match themodified action list.
 7. The method of claim 3, wherein the datareceived from the imaging device comprises images captured by theimaging device.
 8. The method of claim 3, further comprising: receiving,by the server, a request to email the data to a specified email address;and transmitting, by the server, an email comprising the data to thespecified email address.
 9. A system, comprising: a memory deviceconfigured to store instructions; and a processing device configured toexecute the instructions stored in the memory device to: wirelesslyreceive identification information from an imaging device that uniquelyidentifies the imaging device; partially set up a user account on awebsite on a global network using the identification informationreceived from the imaging device; and wirelessly transmit accountinformation associated with the partially set up user account to theimaging device to enable the imaging device to complete set up of theuser account a next time the imaging device connects to the globalnetwork.
 10. The system of claim 9, wherein the processing device isfurther configured to transmit a uniform resource locator for thewebsite to the imaging device.
 11. The system of claim 9, wherein theprocessing device is further configured to: associate data wirelesslyreceived from the imaging device with the user account; and store thedata in a database.
 12. The system of claim 11, wherein the datacomprises images captured by the imaging device.
 13. The system of claim11, wherein the processing device is further configured to wirelesslytransmit to the imaging device a list of predefined actions that theprocessing device can perform on the data received from the imagingdevice.
 14. The system of claim 13, wherein the processing device isfurther configured to perform a selected action from the list ofpredefined actions on at least a portion of the data.
 15. A server,comprising: a receiver configured to wirelessly receive from deviceidentification information identifying the device; a processorconfigured to partially set up a user account on a website uniquelyassociated with a controlling entity based at least in part on thedevice identification information identifying the device; and atransmitter configured to wirelessly transmit account information to thedevice that enables the device to complete set up of the user account anext time the device connects to the server.
 16. The server of claim 15,wherein the transmitter is further configured to wirelessly transmit auniform resource locator locating the website on a global network to thedevice.
 17. The server of claim 15, further comprising a memory devicehaving thereon a relational database that stores the deviceidentification information and the account information.
 18. The serverof claim 17, wherein the receiver is further configured to receiveimaging data from the device; and wherein the processor is furtherconfigured to store the imaging data in the relational database.
 19. Theserver of claim 18, wherein the receiver is further configured toreceive a request comprising an email address from the device; andwherein the processor is further configured to email the imaging data tothe email address.
 20. The server of claim 18, wherein the transmitteris further configured to wirelessly transmit a list of predefinedactions to the device; and wherein the processor is further configuredto perform a selected action from the list of the predefined actions onat least a portion of the imaging data received from the device.